Inside Sales / Business Development Executive

Synexa Life Sciences (Pty) Ltd.; Manchester; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

Synexa Life Sciences in Manchester is seeking a recent Life Sciences graduate for a business development support role. You will identify and engage potential clients, qualify opportunities and help build a robust commercial pipeline for the company’s scientific services.

You will work with the BD and Marketing teams, contribute to RFIs and proposals, and gain formal training and development in a fast-paced CRO environment.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Proactive, self-motivated and eager to learn in a fast-paced commercial environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work effectively in an office-based and collaborative team environment.

Responsibilities

• Proactively generate new business opportunities through targeted outbound prospecting and market research.
• Identify, engage and qualify prospective clients across Synexa's target markets.
• Conduct discovery conversations to assess customer needs, project scope, timelines and budget.
• Convert qualified prospects into sales-qualified opportunities and hand over to the Business Development team.
• Respond to inbound enquiries and support lead qualification activities.
• Coordinate RFI responses and support proposal development with scientific and commercial teams.
• Maintain accurate CRM records, pipeline data, and customer interactions.
• Work collaboratively with Business Development and Marketing teams to achieve pipeline generation objectives.

Skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Organisational skills

Proactive/self-motivated

Office software proficiency

Education

BSc in Life Sciences

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Role Overview

Support Synexa's growth by proactively identifying, engaging and qualifying new business opportunities within target markets. Working closely with the Business Development and Marketing teams, you will execute targeted outbound prospecting campaigns, generate sales-qualified opportunities and help build a strong commercial pipeline for Synexa's scientific services.

This role acts as the first point of contact for many prospective clients, combining scientific understanding with commercial awareness to identify customer needs, qualify opportunities and transition them effectively to the Business Development team for further development. The role will also support the coordination of Requests for Information (RFIs), maintain accurate CRM records and contribute to the efficient operation of Synexa's commercial processes.

This is an excellent opportunity for a recent Life Sciences graduate looking to begin a career in business development within the CRO, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Full training, mentoring and ongoing professional development will be provided. Previous commercial experience is not required; however, relevant internships, placement years, customer-facing experience or exposure to sales, marketing or business development activities would be advantageous.

Key Responsibilities

• Proactively generate new business opportunities through targeted outbound prospecting and market research.
• Identify, engage and qualify prospective clients across Synexa's target markets.
• Conduct discovery conversations to assess customer needs, project scope, timelines and budget.
• Convert qualified prospects into sales-qualified opportunities and hand over to the Business Development team.
• Respond to inbound enquiries and support lead qualification activities.
• Coordinate RFI responses and support proposal development with scientific and commercial teams.
• Maintain accurate CRM records, pipeline data, and customer interactions.
• Work collaboratively with Business Development and Marketing teams to achieve pipeline generation objectives.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• BSc in Life Sciences or a related scientific discipline.
• Recent graduate or early‑career professional with a strong interest in business development, commercial operations and the life sciences industry.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to engage professionally with prospective clients.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Proactive, self‑motivated and eager to learn in a fast‑paced commercial environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work effectively in an office‑based and collaborative team environment.

Preferred

• Internship, placement year, part‑time work or previous experience in business development, lead generation, sales, customer‑facing or commercial roles.
• Experience working within the life sciences, CRO, biotechnology, pharmaceutical or healthcare sectors.
• Experience engaging with prospective customers by phone, email and other outreach channels.
• Experience maintaining CRM records and managing customer information.
• Experience using CRM platforms such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Microsoft Dynamics.
• Familiarity with market intelligence, prospecting and business development tools.
• Experience coordinating RFIs, proposals or commercial documentation.